Duval County school board member requests emergency meeting to remove mask wearing opt-out

Duval County Schools board member Darryl Willie has asked for an emergency board meeting on Friday, with the objective being to discuss no longer letting students opt out of a face-mask mandate.

In a letter sent to Dr. Diana Greene and board chair Elizabeth Andersen, Willie said it is time to discuss safety measures in the wake of increasing COVID-19 cases.

“To date, we have a quarter of the cases (in 2 weeks) that we had the entire 2020-21 school year,” Willie wrote in the letter.

“Our students and employees are becoming sick with a life-threatening virus, and an emergency meeting is needed to discuss this data and alter or change any policy that could help mitigate these cases,” Willie continued in the letter.

School board policy defines an emergency meeting as one called “without at least 48-hour notice to the public for a particular issue when the Chairperson or Board members determine that an issues is an emergency or urgent public necessity.”